The EPA or the Environmental Protection Agency is charged with helping and protecting our environment. Especially from ourselves. You see we are harmful creatures, us humans! We emit a thing called ozone into the atmosphere through our plants and other pollutant emitting factories. The goal is to go from the current range of 75 parts per billion of allowable ozone to 70-65 parts per billion or even lower. A move that could cost the industries not in compliance over 15 billion dollars.

So what the heck does this mean for online business?

1. Anytime companies have to pay fines, fees, or be in compliance with a regulation that costs them money to adhere to those “costs” are passed onto the consumer. Can our economy handle that kind of economical impact?

2. Manufacturing seems to be hard hit in this country with many of those jobs being moved overseas because of these regulations, cheaper labor, and better tax laws. This would further put manufacturing at risk causing plants to reduce their ozone and other harmful pollutants to a lower level passing those costs on to the consumer. If the consumer doesn’t pay the company goes out of business, or moves its factory to a more favorable location to get the price point to a place where the consumer will happily pay.

3. It may stagnate any new business growth. If the EPA approves the lowest standards of 60 parts per billion of ozone it may be next to impossible for any business to get a permit to build any type of new building. Without a steady increase of new jobs and steady economic growth we may be looking at an another economic downturn.

4. One benefit we have seen to the US fracking boom is a lowering of gas prices at the pump. That is a great thing because the consumer has extra disposable income to use on things that your online business sells. But that process can be severely halted if the plants that process the shale oil have to meet new guidelines. But that might be a moot point if the fracking boom is a fad.

5. But the EPA says that we will benefit in over 38 billion dollars in savings due to the health benefits of reducing the ozone. But I have yet to see a report of how we would even come close to hitting those numbers. The guidelines are real, the money it will cost is real, the savings with health benefits is derived, the reports unclear, and the benefits understated. Now we can all benefit from cleaner air that is for sure but who is to say that air quality is causing all of the problems associated with Asthma and respiratory illness as reported. That is for the scientists to figure out with real data and facts. But if it is all true will the health benefits pay for the initial costs before all of the damage of the regulations is done?

But going back to the beginning it is all well and good to complain especially about something that may never come to fruition. But the point here is to be educated on the impacts the law may have with your online business and then look at the opportunity you can gain with this. If this does come about there just may be a whole new wave of online business that can come from this from consulting, to air scrubbing and filtration equipment, to who knows.

So look to the opportunity and see what you can do to find a great idea from this and make an online business that may be the next big thing.